Vlad's Apprentice
by Blaziken837
Summary: Vlad Plasmius is really lonely, so he tricks someone into becoming his apprentice. But she isn't going to make it easy for him, that's for sure. Better than it sounds, I think, and I really haven't gotten that far yet... Rated for language. On Hiatus
1. Prologue

AN: Hello, this is not the first thing I've ever written, but it's the first thing I've posted. I have had this idea for a little while, but I haven't made much progress as of yet. However, I have had this account for a while, and it needs to be used for _something_ more than reviews, right?

Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom or any of its characters, would I _really_ be writing _fanfiction_ for it?

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Vlad Plasmius was desperately lonely, he realized as he reflected upon the years, and he scowled as he flew intangibly through the many rooms of his castle. It wasn't fair! His life had been destroyed in college by his best friend, Jack Fenton, to whom he lost Maddie, the love of his life. If Jack hadn't known how much Maddie meant to Vlad, a secret he had confessed to the man several times, perhaps the betrayal he felt wouldn't have stung so much.

Plasmius sighed regretfully. He probably would have forgiven Jack for the accident that gave him an unhealthy dose of ectoplasm, but he would never be able to let go of the resulting rage from the fat man's theft. He never had a chance, and it was all the fault of Jack Fenton, his supposed best friend. Vlad reprimanded himself for having ever trusted the idiot. Jack probably never intended to hurt him, but that didn't make the act of treachery any less agonizing.

Then Vlad thought back to the accident. He remembered it too clearly, and he visualized almost every detail flawlessly. He could practically feel the burning globs of ectoplasm seeping into his pores, infecting him, slowly traveling and making it to his bloodstream, tainting him irrevocably. He remembered the pain, the unyielding agony of the transformation, the anguish he felt when he realized he had no chance of leading a normal life, the unbearable restlessness he felt in the hospital. He shuddered at the memory of the terror he felt. He remembered how much time he had to reflect on the event during his hospitalization. He remembered the stabbing despair when he realized his best friend had caused this.

Then, he discovered the power he had been given. He recalled the fear he had felt. He remembered how terrified he was of himself, knowing there was no telling what he was capable of, and no one who could help him control his newfound abilities. There was no one to comfort him, no one to explain anything to him, and no one to teach him how to refrain from blasting things accidentally, or how to focus on staying tangible. He had no friends to rely on, to help him carry his burden.

No one but Jack, that is. No. Vlad couldn't bear the thought of relying on the man who was to blame for this. And even if he could still view Jack as a friend, he wouldn't be able to bear to tell him that he was tainted with ghost blood. Jack would have blamed himself. Or, more likely, Jack never would have been able to understand.

Of course, now there was one being who might have been able to understand him: the son of Jack and Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton. But the boy hated him. Not only that, but the teenager got in his way every time he tried to attain his revenge. That made him so furious! Jack had destroyed him! It was only right that he should try to return the favor!

Right?

Vlad repressed his uncertainty. It didn't matter whether it was right to seek vengeance. He _needed_ to. He was so miserable, so desperate to put a stop to his grief, his bitterness, the utter despair that tore him to pieces every day. He was so _lonely_. He craved companionship, understanding and compassion. He needed someone who comprehended the suffering he had endured alone. He needed the child, Daniel. He needed to have the boy on _his_ side.

But that would never happen. Danny couldn't stand him. He would never see the awful loneliness in Vlad's heart. He would never understand, nor would he even attempt to.

Vlad needed Danny's acceptance, but he knew he would never get it. Perhaps his revenge might distract him from his solitude. Hell, if revenge didn't take that off of his mind, nothing would.

But Danny would never allow him to kill his father.

He'd tried everything to at least get the kid out of the way. _Everything._

He'd hired the hunter ghost known as Skulker several times to distract the child. He'd armed an angry girl with ghost hunting equipment and pointed her in the kid's direction. He'd put a million dollar _bounty _on the boy's head. He'd tried to destroy Danny's faith in his idiot father. He'd even created clones of Danny, sending the brightest one (who happened to be female) to take him down.

Maybe he shouldn't have turned his back on the clone. At least she had accepted and understood him… for a little while.

Then again…

Vlad smiled. Maybe he _hadn't_ tried _quite_ everything yet. Sure, he had created a new halfa from Danny's DNA, but he hadn't tried making one from scratch, or rather, from an already existing human! Danny hadn't always been half-ghost, and neither had he. Just because both of their transformations had been accidental didn't mean he couldn't transform a human into a halfa on purpose.

Vlad Plasmius switched back to his human form, Vlad Masters, and thought hard. He had transformed after being exposed to unfiltered ectoplasm. Modern portals to the Ghost Zone would automatically filter the ectoplasm as long as they were turned on.

What if they _weren't_ turned on? Obviously, the power would have to be turned on for the ectoplasm to flow at all, but there would be a few moments in which the filter would be inactive. So, if one turned on a portal while someone was inside, they would be exposed to unpurified ectoplasm. Hell, Vlad thought, that was probably how Danny got his powers. All he needed to do was trick someone into going into his portal, and then turn it on.

Vlad smirked. He had a new plan.

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AN: Ok, I don't know when I'll be updating this, but I'd like some feedback, as long as it's not pure pointlessness (flamers, that means you)! I want to know if anyone likes my idea so far, so… reviews would be appreciated. See you next time!


	2. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Flight

AN: Hello! Sorry I'm so slow, but… I really have no real excuse. I'm just kind of lazy. However, I will try to update in a more timely fashion from now on. I'm changing this to the point of view of the main character from now on, though Vlad will still be a huge part of the series, and there _may(meaning probably)_ be a few points in time where I explore his perspective or someone else's in the future. I haven't really gotten into the full swing of things, so if this isn't exactly great, feel free to comment, as long as any criticism is constructive. Also, at the end, I'd like to clarify something that my first reviewer, EndGame666, who I dedicate this chapter to, brought up, simply because it's a good point. Though, a few paragraphs in, you may find that you've already figured it out. I'd also like to mention my other two reviewers, Varianta and HANAJIMA UCHIHA. Thanks, guys! Now, I think I've kept you from the story long enough.

Anyway! Disclaimer: I don't own the song Watching Me Watching You. Jethro Tull, also known as Ian Anderson, is the owner to that song. Also, I in no way, shape or form, own Danny Phantom. If I did, the series wouldn't have been discontinued (I'd have even funded production myself if necessary, even though I really don't have the money to), and Dark Dan would have had a couple more appearances AT THE VERY LEAST! Why? Because Dark Dan pwns. Oh, and I don't own Iron Man either. I only own the OC's: Andrea, Tasha, the nameless band director, the nameless crowd who wouldn't stop panicking, and the girl narrating this, whose name you'll find out next chapter. And the narrator is the only one of any of my OC's who will ever show up again. Now, on with the story!

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Chapter One: An Unanticipated Flight

_And the crowd thins and he moves up close but he doesn't speak.  
I have to look the other way.  
But curiosity gets the better part of me and I peek:  
Got two drinks in his hand - see his lips move -  
What the hell's he trying to say?_

_He's watching me (watching you) watching him watching me_

_-from Watching Me Watching You, by Jethro Tull_

I sighed as I turned the volume on my CD player up and looked out the window across the other people in my row. We had just gotten out of a major storm, only to find that our pilot was completely incompetent. He had announced that somehow, we were flying somewhere over Iowa. Not only that, but since he had taken us so far past our destination, he couldn't just turn around. We didn't have enough fuel for that. And, he was unfamiliar with the area. Not only would we have to land far away from home, but we might not have been able to even land at an airport. Meaning we could have very well been stranded in the wilderness until someone found us. I absently wondered if the pilot was high or something.

I had known, of course, that people were getting stupider and stupider, but this was freaking ridiculous. Predictably, everyone on the plane was pissed, myself included. They better not have even been _thinking_ about charging us for another ticket. It wasn't our fault that our pilot was a complete moron and took us to the wrong state.

My group was my high school band, and we were supposed to be returning to Arizona, which was where we were from, after a competition in Hawaii. I don't have a clue how a _storm_ could have _possibly_ been a big enough obstacle for the pilot to take us more than _twice the distance of the trip!_ What an idiot!

I sighed again. If we had to be stranded, why couldn't we have at least have been stranded in Hawaii for an extra day? It was _so_ unfair. And what was up with us getting stranded anyway? This wasn't the first time we'd had our Spring band trip prolonged. My freshman year, we had gone to New York, and our flight home was cancelled due to the possibility of a flood, so we had to stay for an extra day. Why did fate have to meddle with our band?

I snapped out of my reverie when I heard the intercom. I was expecting to hear the pilot give us a status update, but that's not what happened.

"_I am the Box Ghost! I rule over all containers both cardboard and square! I will_—" a strange voice was cut off and an odd strangling noise was clearly heard.

"Silence, fool!" a second, deeper voice commanded, and the intercom was shut off.

The other people on the plane started whispering in confusion. What on earth was going on? Why were two completely unfamiliar voices messing with the intercom, and why weren't the pilot and copilot stopping them?

The plane lurched unexpectedly, and we were losing altitude. I heard several shrieks and almost screamed myself when the plane stabilized, and the momentum flung me out of my seat. We hadn't been instructed to put our seatbelts on, but I apparently was the only one who hadn't. What the heck?

"Are you OK?" Andrea, one of our trombone players, who had been sitting next to me asked.

"I think so," I lied, forcing a small smile. I had landed on my ankle, and it hurt, but despite the fact that I barely knew Andrea, I didn't want to worry her. She was a nice person.

The plane lurched again, and I couldn't stop myself from yelping as I was suddenly flung into the aisle. And I landed on my ankle _again_! I probably would have rolled forward a few rows if I hadn't reached out and grabbed the edge of my seat.

Andrea and a few other people gasped as the walls of the plane began to glow, but most of us sighed in relief as the plane stopped falling, and became stable once more. I wasn't sure if I should get up and return to my seat, or if the plane would start falling again, and just fling me out of the chair before I had a chance to put my seatbelt on.

I decided to chance it. I tried to get up, but then I hissed as a sharp pain ran through my leg, and suddenly remembered my ankle. How had I forgotten? It had only been about thirty seconds! Though I supposed that airplanes didn't suddenly start glowing every day, so it was only right that I should have been distracted.

Andrea threw a worried glance in my direction, and I gave her a reassuring smile, which had a lot better effect on her than it had on me. I looked around for a moment, noting that I'd landed awkwardly in the middle of the aisle, and that several people, including my band director, were staring.

I heard a few people groan, and I turned to look in the direction of the sound. Apparently, Tasha and her friends in percussion, who had been playing Mario Kart on their Nintendo DS's, suddenly couldn't play anymore, as _all_ of their games were _malfunctioning!_ A moment later, my CD player stopped working. Oh, well. That song always creeped me out, and I was starting to get bored anyway. As I absently put my CD player in the bag I had strapped around my shoulder, I began to wonder if this day could possibly get any worse. Then again, I supposed that with the airplane having become unstable twice, we had bigger things to worry about than malfunctioning technology.

Suddenly, almost everyone gasped or yelled. I looked up. It seemed that a figure- no, two figures- appeared literally out of nowhere. The more prominent figure was very tall, and looked to be made out of metal. His eyes glowed like bright green embers and his hair appeared to be a flickering green fire. He was dressed in all black with a belt and metallic combat boots. All in all, he looked calm, competent, and very intimidating. The intimidating image that he projected was only intensified by the fact that he was gripping the second figure by the throat. The second figure was a short, chubby man with pale blue skin. He was dressed in overalls and a beanie, and it made him look like a cross between a plumber and a thief.

It looked as if the blue man was about to speak when the metallic man sighed and pulled forth a tiny cage out of thin air, and proceeded to shove the blue guy in, despite the fact that the cage was already stuffed and overflowing with an assortment of tentacled creatures. The blue person's only protest to being caged was a quick "Beware!" and the cage vanished.

OK, when a guy who can make things appear and disappear at will pops up in front of you, your day has probably gotten worse. Then again, I probably should have taken the hint that things were getting worse when the plane started _glowing!_ Seriously.

Anyway, the metallic man—screw it, I'm gonna call him Iron Man, and no one can stop me—started to scan us. He muttered something in the same deep voice we heard on the intercom, and while I had to really focus to be able to hear him, I could have sworn he said "Hm. . . Now who should I take?"

I looked around to see if anyone else had heard him, and very few people seemed to have heard and understood him. But, it was sort of hard to tell, since practically everyone who was awake was either trying to somehow shrink into their chairs to avoid being noticed, or searching frantically for some means of escape, obviously forgetting that we were several miles from solid ground. I seemed to be the only one capable of forcing myself to stay calm and think logically, and I was only able to do that because I was used to thinking that staying rational was the only way to keep myself out of trouble.

I sighed, realizing that anything that could happen to all of us on the plane probably would because everyone was too panicked to do anything constructive.

I glanced back over to 'Iron Man' and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw his narrowed gaze focused on me. I grew very uncomfortable as I wondered why he was staring at me, and then I remembered I had been flung into the aisle. I stood out because I was the only one not in my seat.

I eyed him cautiously as I contemplated what my next action would be. I could try to move back to my spot, but he was already staring at me, and trying to blend in was pointless. Even if he decided to ignore me, I would still have at least part of his attention. Plus, if I moved, he might only become suspicious of me, though for what I didn't know. All I really knew was that I had his undivided attention, and that this probably wasn't a good thing.

I could just sit there, but he might wonder why, and there would be almost no way to get him to ignore me, then. Or worse, he might decide I was too terrified to move and would be an easy target—

No, I had to stop thinking like that. I wasn't going to let panic consume me. I had to stay calm. Ok. Back to my options. I could try to act like everyone else was and try to make myself look small. But then, there was still the fact that I wasn't in my seat, and everyone else was in theirs.

I could try to negotiate with him. After all, I already had his attention, and I was so very curious about what he wanted with us. I had so many questions, and frankly, while I could hold off panic with little effort, I could never get my brain to shut up. Not knowing what was going on was making me really nervous. I didn't like being unaware of my surroundings. But I also knew if I spoke, his interest in me would increase exponentially. That probably wouldn't be good for me, though, really, maybe I was being too quick to judge. Maybe I'd misheard him or something and he really had no hostile intentions.

Except for caging a blue plumber. Yeah. That didn't seem hostile at all.

Ok, maybe I wasn't being too quick to judge. From what I'd seen and heard, he was easily aggravated, and since I had no clue what he was capable of, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to draw attention to myself.

Oh, wait. I already _had_ drawn attention to myself. I was sitting in the aisle of an airplane, gawking a mechanical dude like an idiot.

"Uh…"

Oh shit. That was me. Crap!

'Iron Man' took a few steps forward, raising an eyebrow. Wait… he was metal. Why did he have eyebrows? Or at least, why weren't his eyebrows flickering like his hair was? I mean, that would be really ridiculous, but it would make some sort of sense. Maybe he had control over his flickering hair and just didn't want to look stupid?

Why was I thinking about his eyebrows when I should have been contemplating getting out of this situation intact? Geez, I was such a—

"Why are you in the middle of the walkway?" 'Iron Man' asked.

Aw, shit. No turning back now. If I hadn't had his complete attention before, I certainly did now. I swallowed down that recurring wave of panic that refused to stop bugging me.

"I-I um… well, th-the plane lurched a-and we hadn't been instructed to put our seatbelts back on, so—" I started. Andrea cut me off in a tiny voice.

"Uh, a-actually, t-the p-pilot t-t-told us to put our seatbelts back on about f-f-fifteen minutes ago, when y-you were asleep…" she stammered. Any panic I was feeling dissipated into annoyance and slight anger.

"And you didn't think to tell me that when I woke up?" I shouted. She flinched and looked away nervously. I sighed. "I suppose that explains why I was the only one not wearing my seatbelt… Hold on, why wasn't the seatbelt light on?"

I had to strain myself to hear Andrea say, "The pilot informed us that the lights weren't working at the moment… Something about a limited battery life…"

I glanced around and realized that all of the light on the plane was coming from outside, the plane's current freakish glowing status, and the metal oddity's hair. How did I miss that?

"And all of this is relevant to you being in the walkway _because…?_" 'Iron Man' asked.

When I looked back at him, he was only a few steps away from me. I scooted back a little in surprise. "Uh, the plane lurched forward and I didn't expect it. When it stopped, I was flung out of my seat…"

He nodded. "I see. I always hated physics when I was alive…"

Wait… What. The. Hell? I couldn't have heard that right.

I must have been staring at him because he gave me a really odd look. He narrowed his eyes. I was confused. Now what? I didn't know.

After several moments of agonizing silence, I spoke. I figured it wasn't like I could possibly draw any more attention to myself, right? And I was growing rather curious.

"Who… are you?" I asked. He looked stunned that I spoke again without being prompted. He raised an eyebrow and stared at me some more.

"You… you dare to speak to me, human child?" he asked after a moment. I thought this was a strange question. I had already spoken to him moments before, so why was it a shock that I'd asked him a question?

And what had he called me? 'Human child?' If he was calling me a human, it had to be a distinction, so he definitely wasn't human. So what was he?

"_What_ are you?" I asked with a lot less hesitation than before. I only realized that I had ignored his question _after_ I had asked him this. Of course.

And it was at that point that our band director went into Responsible Teacher Mode. And apparently, that meant it was time to yell at me for drawing attention to myself in the presence of a possible threat. But he didn't get to voice his opinion. The second he stood up, he was blasted by a green ray of light, and most people released a muffled gasp as he slumped to the ground unconscious.

I looked back to the metal man that I'd dubbed 'Iron Man,' and saw that his raised hand had some sort of green smoke rising from it. I stared at him with wide eyes.

"Why did you do that?" I asked boldly. He looked really startled that I was _still_ asking him questions.

Apparently he was shocked enough to do something about it. I flinched as he raised his hand toward me, but he didn't blast me. Instead, a scope-like object came out of his arm. He was apparently scanning me for something, and he made it clear what that was very quickly.

"I… don't understand. You seem to be a perfectly normal, sane, healthy, teenaged human girl. But you don't seem to be afraid of me at all. Why aren't you afraid of me?" he barked almost angrily, but he seemed more confused than anything else. That made two of us.

Of course, my confusion multiplied when I realized that he was right. I wasn't afraid. At least, not anymore. But I should have been.

Hell, I should have been _terrified_ at that point. I'd seen him pull objects out of _nowhere_, cage a smurf, and blast my band director into unconsciousness with some strange power that I'd never even contemplated before. He could shoot some sort of _plasma_ through his hand! He could kill someone with relatively no effort, and probably without a second thought. I mean, the band director hadn't even had a chance to say a word, and this guy had just blasted him. He was completely impulsive. I should have been scared stiff.

But… if he was really that impulsive, why hadn't he shot me? Did he maybe not view me as a threat? Or maybe he was curious about me. I was definitely curious about him.

Wait a minute… that was why I wasn't scared! The only thing that ever stopped me from being scared when I should have been was curiosity, when it was enough to outweigh the fear. And I was growing more curious by the second.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I remembered I'd been asked a question.

"I… I am afraid. At least… I think I am… but sometimes, I just get too curious to let fear get the best of me…" I mumbled.

We stared at each other for a few moments before he took another step toward me and knelt down in front of me.

"No. You're not afraid. I can smell fear, and while this plane reeks of it, there is none coming from you," he spoke. I looked at him in shock. He continued. "And there's more to it than curiosity. You've thought before answering my questions. You've figured something out whether you realize it or not."

Wow. Just… wow. I was astonished. How could this guy tell so much about me? He had figured out something about me that _I _hadn't. How did he do that?

I realized something right then. He wasn't going to hurt me.

I just knew it. He'd had opportunity. If he'd wanted to hurt me, he'd have done it already. But I was unharmed. He only wanted to talk… for now.

I didn't say this, of course. I didn't want to change his mind.

I stared at him for a moment. "Who are you?"

For a second, I thought he was going to get angry, and I tensed, not with fear, but with anticipation. He must have noticed, because he relaxed.

"… I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter," he proclaimed. Oh well, I guess I couldn't call him 'Iron Man' anymore. It didn't really suit him anyway. But I had other things to worry about than his name.

"So does that mean you're a ghost?" I inquired. Skulker nodded.

Huh… A ghost. Didn't ghosts usually have a reason to stay behind? I mean, I'd never met a ghost before, but I'd read about them. Of course, a lot of what I'd read was obviously a load of crap, but there had to be _something_ in one of those books that was actually relevant.

But then, if this ghost, Skulker, was a hunter, what did he want from an airplane? What could possibly be of interest to him several thousand feet in the air?

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" I asked. Honestly, I startled myself. When had that question even popped into my head? It came out of nowhere.

He hesitated, but only for a moment.

"That's for me to know and you to keep your nose out of!" Skulker growled.

I was silent for a moment, but I shrugged. "OK, then. Well, if you don't mind telling me, Mr. Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, what exactly do you hunt?" I prodded. I think I caught him off guard with that one. I knew I'd caught everyone _else_ off guard, because they started whispering amongst themselves. I tuned them out. Right now, what they said wasn't important, and I needed to focus all of my attention on the ghost sitting in front of me.

"Well… usually… rare and dangerous creatures, I suppose," Skulker muttered. I took note of his word usage.

"Usually?" I repeated. "What about… in _unusual_ circumstances?"

Skulker was without a doubt puzzled by my curiosity, but he tried not to show it. He gave me a shaky grin and a shrug. "In that case, I'm most likely tracking a target for a client."

I recoiled in slight shock. The idea that a ghost would take on a client had _never_ occurred to me. But why not? It didn't seem that unreasonable. This ghost didn't seem to act too differently from humans, even if he certainly looked different. Of course, perhaps I really was being a bit quick to judge.

I guess the reason the idea seemed so strange to me was the fact that you never really hear about any sort of business run by a ghost, or even a business that employed ghosts. It was sort of closed-minded of me, but I just never would have thought of the idea. It wasn't a farfetched idea. After all, just how much could death change a person?

Ok, that was a stupid question. I chuckled a bit, and when this was met with a quizzical expression, I merely shook my head. Obviously a lot changes when you die. But at the same time, it was hard not for me to take such a question seriously. Yeah, when you die, you stop being alive, so to speak, but did that change who you were? Did it change what you enjoyed doing, or what your personality was like? Did it change whatever little quirks, habits and idiosyncrasies you had? Or what kind of people (since, really, it seemed that ghosts were people too) you associated with? I supposed not. So it didn't seem like it would be odd at all if a ghost had business partners of some sort. Besides… he'd never said his clients were _human_.

It was an interesting thought.

"Are you hunting something right now?" I asked suddenly. I apparently startled him. I guessed that he had been growing accustomed to my silence.

He snapped back to reality very quickly. "As a matter of fact, I am," he replied with a small smirk.

"What? A rare, dangerous creature?" I asked.

"No."

"What then? Something for… a client, then?"

His smirk widened. "You could say that."

My curious nature made me really eager to find out exactly what this ghost was hunting. So I asked, "What is it?"

His smirk slowly grew into a huge sadistic grin. "Suffice to say that it's going to be a very rare and dangerous creature very soon."

I frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

And why the hell was he looking at me like that?

Wait… did a ghost count as a rare and dangerous creature? And if it did, did that mean this ghost was going to kill someone? That made no sense. If a ghost was both rare and dangerous, then obviously, not everyone who died became a ghost. Killing someone wouldn't guarantee the creation of a new ghost, so that couldn't be what he had in mind.

But then what did he mean?

I couldn't figure it out. But based on the way he was leering at me, I had a feeling I was somehow part of his plan. My stomach lurched as I realized that maybe I had allowed him to take too much of an interest in me.

I needed to figure out what he wanted to do, and to do that I had to ask him more questions. Oh joy.

I took a deep breath and asked him, "Who are you after?"

"Specifically? No one."

That hadn't been what I'd expected. But it made sense. If he didn't have to search for a single, specified target, then he just had a few requirements for what his quarry was like. And it was quite likely that being a hunter, he could recognize those requirements by merely observing. So, judging by the look on his face, it seemed to me that I must have fit the description.

But if he had no specific target, why on Earth was he in this area, on this plane? How did he pick the area that he planned to hunt in? It wasn't too hard to figure out why he'd chosen an airplane, as it was nearly impossible to make an escape if you weren't trained to, but… why the plane my band was on?

"…Why are you here?" I pressed.

"I told you that's none of your concern," he growled, his eyes narrowing.

"The look on your face tells me otherwise," I retorted smoothly.

Skulker glared. "I'm hunting."

I scoffed. "Yes, I gathered that much already. I mean, why are you here specifically? Why are you hunting on _this_ plane, in _this _area?"

He blinked. His glare vanished and was replaced with a neutral, analytical expression. He was studying me.

He continued to stare at me for a few more moments before he grinned slyly and actually answered my question. "It was convenient. I was just in the area."

I was skeptical. It was a little _too _convenient, taking into account the fact that we weren't even supposed to be in the area. We were _supposed_ to be in Arizona. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought that we were set up for this. But even knowing that probably wasn't the case, I didn't really believe him completely.

"I don't believe you," I remarked. He chuckled.

"Whether or not you believe what I tell you is none of my concern."

I frowned. He sounded so… casual. How did he speak with such formality and manage to sound casual? Not that it mattered, really, but… I really did wonder.

I chose to ignore the feeling that this ghost wasn't being honest. I was getting answers, finally, whether they were true or not. And I needed at least one more answer. I had a suspicion that needed to be confirmed.

"What are you going to do when you find someone who fits whatever description you're looking for, hm?" I inquired.

He chuckled, and his small, foxlike smile transformed into a huge grin with a hint of malevolence to it. If I hadn't been expecting it, I would have been astonished when I heard Skulker's response.

"You'll find out," the hunter murmured softly.

A surge of extreme panic rose through me for a few moments before I violently shoved it back down. I had expected him to say something like that. Apparently my sense of paranoia wanted to be absolutely positive before allowing me to feel it. Weird.

And even though it hadn't flared up until I was certain I had reason to worry, it really was just paranoia. I was panicking a little, but I still wasn't genuinely afraid. And that was a good thing, even if it meant I might be a little crazy. If I wasn't afraid, then fear couldn't twist my judgment. And right then, I really needed my judgment. Freaking out wouldn't help me.

I forced myself to take a deep breath, and I looked the ghost dead in the eye. (No pun intended.) I uttered my next question with a single word.

"Where?" I asked.

"…What?" a confused Skulker replied intelligently. Right. I must have forgotten. My thoughts are in my _head_. No one understood what I'd asked except for me. I sighed.

"I may be a teenager, but I am not stupid. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you've decided I'd be a good target. Where are you planning on taking me?" I elaborated.

He chuckled. "You are a very perceptive human child, you know that? But what sort of kidnapper would tell the kid where it's being taken?"

"Point taken," I admitted with a grimace. "But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

Skulker observed me with a thoughtful expression. "So… are you going to come quietly? Or shall we do this the hard way?"

The chattering around us became harder to tune out, but I managed, if only because I was more focused on the question I'd been asked. I hadn't thought of it. If I went quietly, I'd be taken without being injured, and that might have given me a better chance of escape if I needed to make a getaway later. I'd probably learn more about the ghost, and everyone else on the plane would be left alone. Based on what I'd been told, it seemed to me that the hunter was definitely working for a client, and that client most likely wanted me alive, so I'd presumably be safe at least until I was delivered.

While a small part of me screamed that I should get the hell out of there and kick and scream like a banshee if I got captured, I knew that there would be consequences to that. If I fought, it was very unlikely that I'd avoid getting injured in the process, and it was even more unlikely that I'd avoid being captured. I had no idea what lengths the hunter was willing to go through to capture me, so I really didn't know whether or not he'd be careful so as not to harm innocent bystanders, and I really didn't want my band caught in the crossfire of a wild kidnapping/brawl type thing. I was never exactly self-righteous, and I was definitely no hero, but I was not the kind of selfish brat who'd let an entire plane full of people suffer for my benefit. The man I was dealing with was a ghost, and he had power that I didn't. He definitely had the advantage: his prey was cornered and powerless, with no chance of escape.

Skulker had risen to his feet while I'd been weighing my options, but to my surprise, he merely stared at me. It was strange. He could have just grabbed me while I'd been thinking, but he hadn't taken the opportunity he'd been given.

I sighed in defeat. "I really don't have much of a choice."

Andrea was shocked enough to forget her terror long enough to express her view. "Y-you're actually considering g-going with him? N-n-no, th-that can't be right! You aren't! A-are you?" she squeaked in surprise. I merely nodded.

"Well, that's no fun at all," the ghost pouted. "I was hoping you'd put up at least a _little_ bit of a fight. I guess you don't appreciate the chase…"

I blinked. He was sulking like a five-year-old. "It's not that, it's just after seeing how easily you knocked out our band director, it's not like I'd be able to put up much of a fight. If I tried to escape the best I'd be able to do would be to delay you for about ten seconds if I'm _lucky_, and I'd probably get injured if I were to struggle. And everyone else here would be put at risk if I were to fight. I'm not stupid, nor am I selfish enough to endanger a plane full of people for my own safety. And I'm not so much of an arrogant fool not to know when I'm outmatched," I explained. It was like talking to a child, because the second I stopped talking, he quit pouting and grinned widely.

"You're a very smart girl," he remarked. "In fact, you're a bit too smart for your own good."

That's when the possibility that my bravado and display of intelligence had been the reason for his focus on me occurred to me. If I had stopped talking when he stopped asking me questions, he probably wouldn't have even given me a second thought. I'd doomed myself.

Shit, maybe freaking out _would_ have done me some good after all. The thought made me wince, and Skulker's smug expression told me it was clearly noticeable. He was just as observant, if not more, as I was. It was as if he knew what I was thinking.

"You catch on quickly," he observed.

So he could at least guess what I'd been thinking. Or maybe it was just obvious. I didn't know.

"Now, come along, child," the hunter continued. I obliged, or rather, I attempted to. But when I tried to stand, a surge of agony shot through my leg, and I remembered my injured ankle as I stumbled and fell back on my ass. I muffled a whimper.

"I thought you said you were ok…" Andrea muttered.

"I lied," I gritted out. "Shit… I can't get up."

Skulker frowned, and walked behind me before wrapping a metal arm around my waist. By the time my mind had processed the action and figured out what he was about to do, it was too late to protest. He yanked me to my feet violently.

"Fuck! Shit, that _hurts_!" I screamed when my injured foot suddenly had to support my weight. I leaned backward into the hunter, to his astonishment, and supported myself entirely on him as he confusedly helped me steady myself. "Could you savagely jerk me around more painfully if you _tried_?" I snarled.

"Honestly," he growled, "yes, I could."

I decided it would probably be in my best interest if I shut up until my anger dissipated. I was in pain, but I didn't want to piss him off too badly.

A few moments later, I spoke up again. "Just, please… be a little more gentle…" I groaned.

He nodded. I knew this only because his flaming goatee briefly came in contact with my forehead. Luckily, it was _only_ for a moment, or I'd have gotten scorched.

"Wait a minute," I started as he lifted me off the ground. "How are we going to be traveling?"

"We'll be flying, of course!" he chuckled. "I _am_ a ghost, after all."

I was a bit doubtful. I mean, we were technically already in flight. And my skepticism flared when I noticed his idea of flying turned out to be a jet-rocket-type thing on his back. I couldn't see it very well, but still.

"All right, then, genius, what about the wall?" I remarked dryly. He merely laughed, and I felt an odd tingling sensation throughout my entire body. I felt almost as if my existence was merely an impalpable consciousness, that I was there, but not taking up any space. When he leapt toward the glowing green floor, and we both actually passed through it, I realized that my description of the feeling was rather accurate.

"Hey, before we go anywhere, can we, like, get my luggage?" I requested. He wordlessly moved us back through the wall of the plane, but in a different area. The way the luggage was organized was really weird, but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say I found my luggage, and Skulker made it vanish somewhere before once again that tingling sensation overcame me, and I found we were again moving through the wall and out of the plane.

The tingling faded, and no sooner than the second I felt the cold breeze chill my face did Skulker have to dive to the right to narrowly avoid a bright green blast.

I shivered in the hunter's grasp as I glanced at our assailant, a floating, teenaged-looking boy in a black HAZMAT suit with white gloves, white boots, a white stripe around the waist, and a logo that looked like the letter "D" in, you guessed it, white. The kid had messy silver hair, tan skin, and glowing neon green eyes. A determined scowl was plastered on his face as he glared hatefully at Skulker.

"What are you doing here, whelp? Shouldn't you be patrolling your precious little town right about now?" Skulker growled venomously.

"Not when I know that you're out terrorizing people over here," the boy snorted. "I patrolled Amity Park early today, since I knew you were up to something. Now why are you carrying that girl out of a plane?"

"I'm not in your territory, so this has nothing to do with you, whelp. You aren't my target right now, so back off. I have no quarrel with you." Skulker grunted.

"Well I have a quarrel with _you_ when you attack innocent people!" the boy proclaimed as he prepared another green blast. He never got to fire it. To both of our surprise, the plane suddenly stopped glowing, and began plummeting to the Earth. The boy in the jumpsuit snapped into action, flying at high speed to catch up with the plane.

Skulker took full advantage of the distraction, and started flying away from the scene. I stared worriedly at the spot the plane had been, and silently wished everyone would be alright as we flew swiftly through the air and finally lost sight of the falling plane.

* * *

AN: Ok. Sorry, the ending to this chapter is sort of crappy, but at least I have something, right?

So, I'd like to point out that in this story, Vlad still lives in Wisconsin. Where Amity Park is located is never actually specified, though there have been many different speculations from what I've seen. Based on the fact that in Reality Trip, they went to Florida (for the space program at which Danny hid his gem) before going to Nevada (Gothapalooza) and California (for the San Diego Sci Fi and Comic Book Convention), I'm assuming that Amity Park is closer to the east coast than the west coast. Also, they don't seem to be too far away from Wisconsin, as their road trip in Bitter Reunions took place over a single weekend, so logically, Amity Park would be somewhere in between Florida and Wisconsin. Since they prominently differentiate the behavior of the visiting Fentons from the locals of the more southern states (namely Arkansas) in Prisoners of Love, Amity Park is probably closer to Wisconsin than to Florida, so really, if you look at a map, there are only a few states that would make sense for Amity Park to be in. I'm going with it being in Illinois, which also would explain why the test in Fanning the Flames was called the Northwestern Standardized Testing, since Illinois has the Northwestern University. Yes, I did my research. That's part of why this chapter took so freaking long. I wanted to get my facts straight. Though, this is speculation, so I suppose I'm actually just getting my logic straight. Either way, I wanted to be somewhat geographically accurate, considering my knowledge of geography is nothing short of total crap. A lot of this is guesswork, but it's _educated_ guesswork.

Phantom Planet definitely never happened in this story.

The pilot was an idiot for a reason, but I'll explain that next chapter. And I know you probably are wondering why I made the character so intelligent, but, honestly, if Vlad wants an apprentice, don't you think he'd want his apprentice to have a lot of unique qualities? Vlad wouldn't want just anyone for an apprentice. So, yeah, she's a bit overly perceptive for a teenager, but there's a good reason for that. At least, I feel it's a good reason.

Endgame666 asked me why Vlad has to trick someone into being his apprentice as opposed to being honest. Well, here's my answer:  
1. It's in his nature to be deceptive. Being dishonest has been a habit of his for twenty years, and trying to get someone to be his apprentice willingly probably never would have occurred to him. Even if it did, well… we can all see how well that worked out with Danny, so he probably would have dismissed the idea anyway.  
2. If a random person that you'd never met before came up to you, claimed to be half ghost, and offered you a position as his apprentice, would you take him seriously? Probably not. Vlad has spent a lot of time and effort protecting his image. He's widely known, being a billionaire, and if someone started telling people that he was some crazy fool who thought he was part ghost, it wouldn't look good for him. And the Guys in White would never let him be. Yes, one person can be kept quiet with a little effort, but Vlad is probably uncomfortable enough with Danny and his friends knowing he's half ghost. Anyone who knows his secret and isn't his ally is a threat to him. Vlad isn't stupid. He wouldn't blow his cover like that. (Don't whine to me about how he did in Phantom Planet, because in my stories, as I said, PP never happened. It was unrealistic, and it completely disregards Vlad's personality, his actual goals, and especially his intelligence.) Also, since he wants his apprentice to have certain characteristics that aren't exactly easy to find, he doesn't feel it's plausible to give a choice in the matter. And he doesn't exactly take rejection well.  
3. This story will be filled with angst. Vlad's apprentice never really wanted her position, and because she didn't get a choice (you'll find out the circumstances pretty soon) she will resent him. It's a lot easier to resent someone who's manipulated you.

Random info: the little blurb about being stranded in New York for an extra day actually happened to my band my freshman year. However, we did not go through anything like what happened in this after our trip to Hawaii. That was made up. My trip to Hawaii was in my junior year. For the kidnapped teen in this story, it's her senior year, just because that gives her even more of a reason to be resentful. And I will explain that later, but for now, I don't want to give away too much. Although, I seem to be failing at that…

One more thing! Yes, I am basing a FEW of her experiences on my own experiences, but that does NOT mean that she is based on me. She is not a self-insert. I just wanted to clarify that.

I've ranted enough for now. I'd adore some reviews as long as they are constructive. If you have any questions, you can PM me or ask me in a review. For now, read some other fanfics while you wait for this one, or write something of your own if you want. Or just do something else. Just try to be patient. I'll have an update for you soon enough.

Oh, and virtual fudge for anyone who figures out what was up with the plane glowing! Bye!


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